Vincenzo Petrucelli

Vincenzo Petrucelli, also known as Vincent Pierce, was an Italian-American investor and Masseria crime family associate.

Biography
Vincenzo Petrucelli was born in Sicily, and he changed his name to "Pierce" upon arriving in the United States due to pronunciation difficulties. He became involved in Tampa real estate, and he built a reputation as a businessman in Florida. Petrucelli was associated with Masseria crime family boss Joe Masseria, his cousin. In 1924, he met with Enoch Thompson and decided to sell him 14,000 acres of land, a piece of real estate that he had acquired following the murder of August Tucker by Bill McCoy. Petrucelli intimidated fellow Masseria employee Lucky Luciano by telling him that he should bring Masseria down to Florida so that the three of them could make money together, leading to Luciano leaving his partnership with Thompson, Meyer Lansky, and Arnold Rothstein in Tampa.